


My Dear Pavel

by mrvulcant



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 10:36:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5740402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrvulcant/pseuds/mrvulcant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chekov gifts Sulu with an Arizona Rainbow Cactus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Dear Pavel

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfiction is set after 'The Spectre of The Gun'.

“Mr. Sulu, I have gift for you.”

The indoor jungle is endless, the greenery intertwining with lampshades and occasionally, with furniture. If it were not for the vibrant pinks, yellows and reds, the room itself would resemble what could be described as a hydroponic laboratory. Hikaru had himself a little slice of heaven, or rather, of Earth. Chekov sighed at the sweet scent permeating the air as he ventured further into the seeming wilderness. “Mr. Sulu?”

Hikaru Sulu was seated at his desk, humming away. He held a pipette in one hand, and a petri dish in the other. He gazed at the specimen, an olive leaf, and jumped slightly when the liquid that was dropped onto it caused a bright purple fizzing reaction. “Mr…Sulu?” Chekov felt slightly panicked, as if he shouldn’t be in the nursery. It caused his cheeks to flush. He took a deep breath, and reminded himself to speak slowly and clearly, or risk not being understood. Chekov would sometimes revert to Russian when anxious. “Oh!” Sulu swivelled around in his chair. “Hello , Mr. Chekov.” The botanist grinned from ear to ear, Chekov mirroring this. “It is so nice to see you! I heard that you were in the infirmary.” His dazzling smile turned to a look of concern, and his kind eyes flitted over the Russian , checking for signs of injury. “Ah, no…I mean, yes. The doctor is better than Russian doctor in Moscow! He fix my bullet wound, only small scar now.” Sulu nodded, a placid smile upon his face and rose from his chair. “Well, after hearing that the party might not return, it is a relief to see you back on The Enterprise.” His voice was kind, it sounded soft, and the Ensign picked up a hint of worry. Instinctively, Sulu offered his hand, but found that Chekov’s were hidden behind his back. It was not long before the puzzled helmsman smiled in realisation. “Oh? Have you brought me something, Chekov? I hope it isn’t paperwork.” Chekov chuckled, and held the surprise in front of him. His heart was racing, and he really hoped that the little cactus would please Sulu. 

 

 

 

 

Chekov knew next to nothing about plants, save for the few facts he had retained about medicinal herbs. “It is- It is gift. It is the Arizona…” Sulu’s eyes widened in surprise. “The Echinocereus Rigidissimus.” Sulu was prone to grinning in most situations, but now smiled with pure joy. The plant was rotund, the type of cactus with impressive spines, and with flowers that made it all the more lovely to behold. “Oh, Chekov. I love cacti.” Chekov’s heart skipped a beat. “The Edidi-?” Chekov stumbled and wished he hadn’t, until Sulu burst into laughter. “The Arizona Rainbow Cactus. We are so far from Earth, and yet… Thank you, Chekov, thank you!” He placed his hands around the base of the potted plant. In his surprise, he had not realised that he had placed his hands over Chekov’s. The young man gasped and almost dropped the pot, catching it by the base of the plant while Sulu caught the bottom of it. Chekov cried out, and several drops of blood spattered into the potting mix. When Sulu saw this, he carefully took it from the Russian, and slammed the pot onto his desk before rummaging through his drawers. He had found tweezers and blotting paper, the other hand grasping Chekov’s wrist to reveal his newly speared palm. 

There were several, small needles buried in the Ensign’s skin, just below his thumb. “Chekov, I apologise. I really do. Oh, dear.” Sulu gently blotted away the beads of blood, and looked directly into his patient’s eyes. Chekov looked mortified. “It’s alright Chekov, I do get carried away. I must have startled you. I was just so happy to receive something so… personal.” He looked wistfully at the young man, before gauging his reaction to the tweezers, which were tugging at the base of one of the thorns. Chekov winced , and readied himself. There were seven of the splinters. It throbbed as if he had been burned. “No, Mr. Sulu. I apologise. I should have been more- ah!” The first had come out, and the second. “I’m sorry, Chekov. Just hold still. It will be over soon.” The last few were the most painful, and Chekov felt his skin stinging terribly, although nothing could compare to the embarrassment he felt at this moment. “There, all done.” Hikaru looked back to Chekov, whose eyes were glistening with small tears, and whose cheeks were ruddy with embarrassment. “Oh, dear…Stay here!” Sulu rushed off in panic, and returned with a sprig of aloe, which he applied to the prickled area. 

 

 

 

“Chekov…” The Russian wiped his tears with the sleeve of his good hand. “I always seem to get eweryone into trouble.” The older helmsman looked at him disapprovingly. “That is not true, Chekov. You have been pretty shaken from the last few away missions. I would say that you need some rest.” Sulu then applied a bandage to the area, eyes never leaving, and gently placed Chekov’s hand by his side. “Th-thank you…it- it was nice on the planet. I got shot, but there was lady who…” He stopped, something strange swimming in his gut. “Oh?” Sulu quirked a smile. “Well, she was wery pretty, but she wanted me to take her to dance, end marry her. I couldn’t!” When Chekov looked over, Sulu was chuckling to himself. “You do get ahead of yourself, Chekov.” The Russian felt slightly offended by this, and jumped to defence. “She- I wasn’t me, I mean she thought I was- and I got shot , bang! Bang! End I…” Sulu placed his hand on Chekov’s shoulder, to which the younger man responded with an open, vulnerable expression. Sulu felt the hollow in his chest swell, and resisted the urge to embrace his long treasured, but secret love. He began strolling , Chekov at his side, toward a row of exotic flowers. “Do you remember the time that the ship became crazed? I remember waking up from that haze, hardly dressed, sweating like a madman. I had been waving my fencing sword around for the past two hours.” Chekov smiled, and realised that the pain in his hand had subsided. “My point is, …Chekov…” Sulu carefully took the Ensign’s injured palm in his own, and let his other hand rest gently upon it. “…that things are not always what they seem, in space.” Mr. Sulu smiled gently at Chekov, and found that he was gazing into the amber eyes. BEEP BEEP. “Uhura to The Nursery, Uhura to The Nursery.” Sulu’s eyes darted away, bashfully. He let the Ensign’s hand break away from his, and walked gingerly to the intercom. “Yes, Uhura. Sulu here.” A small part of him wished that it was Spock who had gifted him with the cactus, just to avoid the embarrassment that had ensued. But, would he have been as excited about receiving such a specimen, if from Mr. Spock? Probably not. “Doctor McCoy has requested you report to the laboratory with the aloe samples.” After the brief conversation, he found that Chekov was gazing at the ground, shuffling his feet, as if brushing some dust aside. “I want to thank you for such a beautiful gift, Chekov.” The room was silent, lest for Chekov’s anxious breath. He looked up at the older officer quizzically. “Mr.Sulu, I…” Hikaru walked over, a gentle smile on his face. “I want to. If you come here after Alpha Shift, I’ll show you something I’ve been working on. That is, if you want to, Chekov.” “What will you show me, Mr. Sulu?” Somehow, Chekov was anxious. There was a fluttering in his chest that made him feel queasy. “If you want to find out, meet me here at sixteen hundred hours.” With a wink, he escorts Chekov outside and watches him shuffle down the hallway.

 

 

(1600 Hours, The Nursery.)

Chekov had convinced himself that by coming to The Nursery, he had made a good decision. Now all he had to do was try not to break anything, or, heaven forbid, step on Sulu’s toes. Shakily, his hand hesitated at the intercom. With a deep breath, he pressed it and said, “Mr. Sulu?” The doors parted, revealing a faintly lit and slightly eerie atmosphere, a stark contrast to the previously vibrant garden he so adored. Chekov felt himself go cold. What if this was a trick? “Chekov! Please, come inside.” He could hear Sulu’s voice from the speaker, and from the inside the room , which was strangely comforting. “But… It is so dark…” He stood there for a while, until the approaching shadow shrank itself into the form of Hikaru, the eager botanist, in his off duty gear, complete with a smile. “Then, allow me to escort you.” He held out his hand, careful not to seem sinister. He wasn’t, but his dear Pavel was so jittery. The Russian looked at Sulu, to his hand, and back again before deciding to take it. “Alright…but don’t make me part of experiment…” He recoiled when a large, carnivorous plant crunched and swallowed the flies that hung around it. “I-I don’t like this snapping fish plant…why it do that?” Sulu felt warmth spread through him and resisted the urge to laugh. Sweet, naive Chekov. “It is a Venus Flytrap, the Dionaea Muscipula. Well, one that I… engineered…” Chekov turned his head sharply. “You mean you created monster robot? But plant? What if it become Borg?” Sulu laughed heartily.“No, Chekov. I made it bigger by giving it corticosteroids. I wondered what might happen… besides, fruit peels and scraps have got to go somewhere!” Chekov smiles nervously. “That is good, but I don’t want it near me. Keep it in pot, Sulu, or I send it to far, far away planet!” Sulu smiles, diverts him from the path, to a row of herbs. “It won’t hurt you Chekov, I promise.” They continued, to the back of the room, where a vault type door hid all of the younger man’s worries. “Now, I need you to be very quiet and very careful, Chekov.” The door opened with the pushing of buttons and the crank of a wheel. “Come, but remember, be very quiet.” The Ensign found himself trembling. What was to be inside this endless chasm, more monster plants? Human remains? Surely not. “Oh… Mr. Sulu, I think I do not like what is going to happen.” The door creaked, and air whistled through the opening. “The plant you saw today is the only one of its kind. I promise, you won’t be eaten alive.” Chekov followed Sulu into the room, which represented a cave, its cold scent refreshing yet unsettling. He could just make out moss and lichen on the craggy rock that lined the walls. “What…is this place?” Sulu led him on, careful not to tug his hand. “You will see soon, but please be as quiet as possible.” It was damp and strange, not unlike some of the mountain passes on away missions. He half expected a Mugato to jump out and maul them both. Finally, a clearing. The passage itself was little over three meters, but they had tread very slowly and carefully, making the distance they travelled seem like the span of a real cave. It was almost pitch black. After a while, Chekov realised that Sulu was no longer holding his hand. He panicked. 

“S-Sulu? This isn’t wery funny…” The Ensign’s voice trembled and he feared that if he moved, darkness would swallow him up whole. Then, a soft, high pitched whistling. Gradually, the room began to brighten. The soft, blue light was like water in an underground cavern. Chekov heard footsteps, and eventually, saw the face that belonged to them. Sulu beamed, and gestured behind Chekov. “Please, sit.” Chekov stumbled backwards, and sat himself on the rock. Sulu sat beside him, close enough that their thighs touched. It is small rock, Chekov thought. “How did you make this place?” The room had stackable storage boxes, a monitor and a mounted sensor of some sort, which faintly flashed every so often. It seemed out of place, in the realism of the ‘cave’. “The engineers helped me. This was a storage room, but I just had to keep them.” Sulu lifted his eyes to the ceiling, and Chekov followed. There, hundreds, perhaps thousands of twinkling lights dotted the roof of the cave. “Oh!” At the sound of the Ensign’s surprise, the light dimmed, before glowing again. “Shh…” Sulu smiled gently. “Luminas, from the Vega System. They are similar to Earth’s glow worms, but the amazing thing is this…” Sulu leans in, excitedly. “They can turn any rock into Dilithium. The acids in their digestive system refine any rock when it… well, comes out the other end.” He smirks, and admires them once more. “Granted, it is not a lot, you need a few thousand to make enough Dilithium for emergency stores, which is why I’m breeding them.” Chekov grinned at the sample of Dilithium in Sulu’s palm. “Sulu, this is… this…” He had forgotten about the fear of coming into the cavern and was now focused on visiting this place again with Sulu. “Well, it is a work in progress, but it will help eventually.” Sulu places the crystals on the ground. “What do you think?” Chekov is astounded. The underestimated genius in Sulu always surprised him. “I think it is wonderful, better than scary plant, and so beautiful. Like star in sky, but glowing and gentle. Not like star on screen, racing past, too fast to look at.” He sighed wistfully at the small creatures, and leaned against the wall behind them. Then, Sulu felt something flip. It might have been his self control, because at this moment, he was holding Chekov’s hands in his own, gazing at him with adoration. “Mr…Sulu?” Chekov found himself paralysed. But, he wasn’t afraid, only his pulse was racing. “Chekov, I’m sorry.” Sulu removed his hands and and looked worried, as if he had told a lie. He waited for Chekov to leave, but found his friend looking expectantly at him, smiling shyly. “What is it, Mr.Sulu? This is wery exciting research. I’d like to help.” He inched his hand towards Sulu’s, which was now resting on his thigh, and curled his little finger around Sulu’s. The Lieutenant’s cheeks were ruddy, and eyes darting in confusion. “Ch-Chekov?” The Russian smiled at his feet, feeling his breath shorten. They stay like this for a while, until Chekov feels the hand that is linked to Sulu’s being fully linked. Sulu’s warm side presses against his, and in the next few moments, the Russian feels soft lips upon his cheek. Oh. His temperature skyrockets. Sulu’s lips part from his cheek, and experimentally, oh so very gently, he kisses a spot right next to Chekov’s lips, before parting again. Chekov feels dizzy. “Hika-S-Sulu…I…” The young man has his face turned away, a small, trembling smile gracing his expression. “Pavel…” Sulu places his hand just above the small of Chekov’s back, which causes the young man let out a soft mewl. Sulu then realises how much his friend is trembling. He feels warm and delicate.“Chekov… I… If it was uncalled for I am terribly sorry…” The young man turns to look at Sulu, his eyelashes fluttering before settling on Hikaru’s face. “That was…wery nice…Hikash-Hika- Mr. Sulu…” The Russian was fiddling with his hands a little, slouched over timidly. Sulu was smiling, the tension in his body dissolving. He hesitantly holds Chekov’s jaw with one hand, and tilts his head it ever so gently. He looks so fragile, flushed pink and batting his eyelashes like a child. It sends Sulu’s head spinning, his pulse hammering against the fabric of his clothing. He moves in, weaving his other hand through the caramel locks of his lover. “I thought so too, my dear Pavel.” Chekov’s gasp is caught by the soft mouth, kissing him so tenderly, before parting once more. The glow of the Luminas softens Sulu’s exotic features, but highlights the red tint in his cheeks and lips. Similarly, Sulu admires the flush that paints Chekov, and the way that he stares in disbelief. Moments later, he speaks. “I have newer been kissed so many times in one day, Mr. Sulu.” Sulu blinks, then laughs softly, holding the injured hand of his sweet Chekov. “I think this will be the last time that you say that, my little Ruski.” Chekov gasps in surprise when the phrase is followed by another kiss, and several more, peppered across his cheeks. It had been an eventful day, indeed.


End file.
